spitfire coffee french quarter new orleans cafe multi roaster panther coffee sprudge
The past and present co-exist in New Orleans. On one side of the French Quarter’s Jackson Square sitsย Cafรฉ Du Monde. Since 1862, the classic shop has been serving beignets and chicory coffee to those needing a caffeine boost and a mess of powdered sugar. Except for when iced coffee and soda were introduced in 1988, the cafe has hardly changed.

If you want a completely different coffee, one rooted in the present day, it’s a mere five-minute walk away. Exit Cafรฉ Du Monde, stroll across Jackson Square, avoid getting caught up in an impromptu jazz band or magician performance in front of the St. Louis Cathedral, and duck down St. Peter’s Street. Don’t blink, or you’ll missย Spitfire Coffee.

There isn’t much room to maneuver when you walk inโ€”Spitfire has a grand total of four seats. The shop punches above its weight due to a strong multi-roaster program, as well as reimagined specialty drinks that involve cocktail bitters such as habanero and mole.

spitfire coffee french quarter new orleans cafe multi roaster panther coffee sprudge
In a way, co-owner Nicholas Christian backed into a barista role. He had been working as a chef and kitchen manager in his native Portland, Oregon, and was interested in the coffee-into-espresso processโ€”a curiosity that was stoked when he crossed paths with a Synesso tech. Christian recalls fixing an espresso machine viaย a Bluetooth earpiece, with the tech on the other line deciphering the machine’s different sounds. Before moving to New Orleans prior to Hurricane Isaac in 2012, he had stints with Boxcar Coffee Roasters in Boulder, Colorado as a roaster; as a chef back inย Portland; and as photographer turned consultant and cafe manager for Dallis Brothers Coffee in New York. After landing inย New Orleans, Christian turned back to theย chef trade before meeting John Peters, the original owner of Spitfire Coffee, who offered him a consulting job.

“When I first got [to New Orleans], it was a [coffee] ghost town,” Christian says. “There was not much going on at all reallyย [with coffee]. Aย lot of it was still really dark roast. Lots of bottom, lots of flavors, things like that. That’s one of the reasons I jumped atย the consulting job because I thought I might have a chance to actually, slowly change coffee here.”

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spitfire coffee french quarter new orleans cafe multi roaster panther coffee sprudge
Peters’ family owned the French Quarter building, which datesย back to the 1700s, and the cafe space used to be an art gallery. The cafe’s name comes from the WWII fighter plane;ย a Spitfire-themed banner hangsย behind the register. Christian and his business partner Scott Burlington, who handles the back end of the business, bought Spitfire Coffee from Peters in 2015; an Olan Mills-esque portrait of the two owners hangs in the shop.

spitfire coffee french quarter new orleans cafe multi roaster panther coffee sprudge
The unusual suspects at Spitfire Coffee.

Menus close to the register detail theย espresso and filter drinks, plusย a list ofย ย specialty drinks and craft chocolate bars. Brewed coffees are made via Hario V60, whileย iced coffee is available from a Toddy or a Yama. Due to the humidity in New Orleans, Christian found that redialing the espresso on the shop’s Nuova Simonelli Aurelia IIย had to be doneย many times every hour. To combat this, he sets the water-boiler temperature as low as 194 degrees F, looks for a five-to-six-second espresso drop, and ends the shot at between 27ย andย 29 seconds. The lower temperature and slower extraction help keep espresso’s round, balanced notes in the spotlight. According to Christian, the espresso shots are now more consistent and have a thicker, more stable crema, without as many high and low notes.

spitfire coffee french quarter new orleans cafe multi roaster panther coffee sprudge
Miami’s Panther Coffee is the shop’s mainstay, whileย other roasters featured include Nashville’s Crema Coffee Roasters, Jackson, Mississippi’s BeanFruit, Chicago’s Passion House, and PDX’s Coavaย and Extracto Coffee Roasters.

spitfire coffee french quarter new orleans cafe multi roaster panther coffee sprudge
Roaster roster.

“I want to try to find roasters from each section [of the country] because we get a huge international crowd here,” Christian says. “I love it when people come in and [say], ‘Oh my god, this is the best cup of coffee I’ve had in the States. Where did it come from?’ I’m like, ‘That one actually came from Chicago. When you are in Chicago, go check this out.’ It’s great for the international market to also seeย that Americans don’t just have Starbucks.”

Christian also had to win over locals, who were accustomed to the city’s traditional dark-roast coffee and chicory. He said he would put chicory in the pour-overs at first, and slowly removed it over time.

Moving forward, Spitfire aims to open in another neighborhood and try to become a part of theย revitalization of a differentย section of townโ€”something ofย an extension of Christian’s desire to just change the coffee culture.

“The thing that I love about the coffee scene in this city is that this is the most welcoming, friendly coffee city I’ve ever worked in,” he says. “There’s rivalry, but it’s all friendly. It’s all fun. Everyone sends [customers]ย to each other’s shops. Being in a tourist city, that’s one of my favorite things to do.”

Spitfire Coffee is located atย 627 St. Peter Street, New Orleans. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Evan C. Jones is a Sprudge.com contributor based in St. Louis. Read more Evan C. Jones on Sprudge.

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